1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to espresso coffee machines and, more particularly, to such machines that utilize single-serving pods or pouches of coffee for use in preparing single servings of espresso beverages.
2. Description of Related Art
In machines for the production of espresso coffee beverages, it is known to use prefilled pouches or xe2x80x9cpodsxe2x80x9d insertable into the machine to provide the raw materials from which the beverage is prepared. Such pods typically comprise precompressed, single servings of ground coffee that are enclosed in filter paper and packaged with one or more outwardly extending strips or marginal extensions of material that are graspable for feeding of the pouches to automated devices, or for separate or manual use, and some of the marginal strips are fabricated with predetermined break or tear points. The device of the present invention is one that utilizes such pods that are manually inserted into the machine by a user.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a device that accepts manual insertion or feeding of single-serving pods and automatic removal and discharge of spent pods at the end of the operating cycle of an espresso coffee beverage machine. The invention permits the construction of advantageously simple and economical espresso machines for personal use for the production of espresso coffee beverages, in which the manual nature of the feed is substantially confined to the positioning of a new pod in the machine.
It is another object of the invention is to provide such a device which is constructed and engineered in a particularly simple and robust manner and which can be actuated manually or automatically, in the latter case by using any of a broad range of known or otherwise suitable arrangements.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve these objects in a device that can be readily combined and integrated with the components that form such machines, as for example heretofore known, for the production of espresso coffee beverages.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a simple, functional and efficient device, reliable in operation and relatively economical in cost, for achieving the desired functionality.
These and other, additional objects are achieved in the inventive device for feeding precompressed single-serving pods in machines for the production of espresso coffee beverages. The device of the invention includes an extendibly retractable drawer that incorporates a lower pod support and opposable pod retaining means which are disassociable or disengageable from the drawer during travel of the drawer and are automatically activated and deactivated in phase with the retraction or travel of the drawer.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. It should be further understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and that, unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.